A SENIOR civil servant has claimed that Britain “hates” its young people – because of the way the nation treats them.

The chief executive of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority was responding to complaints from angry parents who must fork out £550 a year to transport their sixth-form children to school.

“This is yet another attack on young people. In Britain we hate young people,” David Butterworth told the Upper Dales area partnership.

“We make it difficult for them to go to school to get the qualifications for university, and then they come out of university with massive debt.”

Travel for sixth-formers from Hawes to Wensleydale School in Leyburn used to be free – subsidised by the county council through a Government grant.

But when that grant was cut several years ago, parents had to start paying. Originally it was £300 but that has since risen in increments and is currently £550.

Mum Diane Raw of Hawes said her son was told if he did not pay the fare, he could not get on the bus. “It is grossly unfair,” she said.

“We all have jobs so we can’t take them ourselves to the school which is 18 miles away and we can’t car-share because their timetables are so different.

“They are trying to get the best education they can and are being penalised for it.”

Cllr Steve Sheldon from Carperby said it was possible some were deterred from going into the sixth-form because parents could not afford bus fares.

“This is nothing less than a tax on education opportunities for our children,” he said.

Partnership chairman John Blackie now plans to take the issue back to North Yorkshire County Council in March.

“This amounts to a tax for living in the countryside if you have young children,” he said.

After the meeting Mr Butterworth said the way young people in Britain were treated was “a national disgrace.”

He added: “When their exam results come out and they’re shown to be doing well, they are sneered at and derided in the national media.”

“They’re paying thousands of pounds a year for a university education that to our generation and the previous one was free.

"We protect and ring fence older people’s benefits like bus passes and free TV licences and so on because they are seen by government to be untouchable.

“I am not saying older people should not be treated well, only that young people should be treated fairly. The contrast is starker now than it’s ever been and we should be ashamed.”